Tippets

At a recent Lone Star College East Aldine Center panel discussion about traits such as pride and persistence, students in the audience needed to look further than Mario Castillo for examples of the characteristics.

Castillo, a Latino, is the new chancellor of the Lone Star College system, making him the top executive of Harris County’s largest educational institution. It serves more than 80,000 students spread across eight colleges and several satellite centers.

He served previously as general counsel and chief operating officer of Lone Star.

“It took 51 years for someone who is not a white man to become chancellor of this institution,” said Castillo, the first person in his family to complete high school or college or law school.

“I would rather do Iron Man again than apply to be chancellor,” Castillo joked, referring to his recent completion of the athletic triathlon event.

He urged students of the East Aldine Center and Avalos P-TECH High School to pursue their educational goals with pride in their Hispanic heritage.

Castillo told the students: “There was one thing that was never in short supply in my house: pride in being Latino, pride in being Chicano, pride in being Mexicano. We were raised to be incredibly proud. We are a very rich people, but somewhere along the way we were taught to forget that.

Castillo, with Walle behind him

“Never let anyone tell you that to be Latino, to be Hispanic is (to be) less than,” Castillo said.

Pointing to the other panel participants, Castillo told the students: “You no longer have the excuse that there are no people who look like you in leadership positions.”

The panel’s discussion was friendly, open, honest, and often emotional. Along with bright balloons, banners, flowers and Mexican food, there were occasional tears.

Panelist Armando Walle, a longtime member of the Texas House of Representatives, became emotional as he discussed his “shame” over failing the Texas Bar exam twice before hiring a private tutor to help him pass the exam to earn his Texas law license.

“Whatever happens, do not let failure define you,” Walle said.

He also shared the story of going to the state prison where his father was an inmate who had suffered from substance abuse.

“All I knew (for a while) was that I didn’t want to end up like him. I didn’t want to end up in prison,” Walle said through tears.

Panelist Melissa Gonzalez, president of Lone State College Kingwood, said that as she grew up in a family of migrant farm workers, her dream “was not to be poor.”

 She also recalled that her teachers, advisors and librarians “made the difference” in her life. “They told me I had a gift.”

“I knew that education was the solution,” she said. “But it hurt my family, it affected a lot of people. I get emotional thinking about how hard it was. But they finally realized why I was doing what I was.”

Gonzales, the daughter of migrant farmworkers, recalled that She said that her teachers, advisors, librarians “made the difference” in her life. “They told me I had a gift.”

Like the other panel members, she said that because of the school personnel who encouraged her, “That’s also my goal. We are here to help you.”

Ernesto Valenzuela, Lone Star College vice president of student services, reminded the students that “education is going to open a lot of doors.”

He also pleaded with them to seek help from student services if they need any type of support.

He recalled an adviser who urged him to give up on his dream of obtaining an engineering degree, because of a D in algebra. He got the degree, anyway.

“You have the right to do what you want to do in life. It is up to you,” Valenzuela said.

 “That’s what I want to leave with you today: what is your ‘why?” I wanted to help others, I want to motivate them,” Valenzuela. “You get to decide what you want to do in life. And education is going to open those doors.”

Reyna Tippetts, the new dean of Lone Star East, tearfully shared her story of her childhood poverty before she moved to the United States.

Tippetts started working for Lone Star more than 20 years ago, as a night custodian.

Tippetts recalled the holes in the roof of her family home in Mexico.

“The rain would come through that roof, and we would get wet. But on a beautiful night, I could see the stars, and it was gorgeous. I went to sleep hungry, but full of dreams,” Tippetts said.

She said “an amazing thing happened when I started going to school. My teachers told me I was a good kid.” A teacher even bought her a school uniform.

She urged the students to ask college officials for whatever help they might need.

“No one should ever go to bed hungry. I know it’s hard to ask for help,” she said. “We have so many people to help you. That is our purpose in life – even if we don’t have the resources, we will connect you to the people who do have those resources.”

The celebration concluded as Tippetts presented bouquets of flowers to the custodians who work at the Lone Star Center in East Aldine. Students applauded and some wept.

— by Anne Marie Kilday